Veteran free agent swingman Josh Richardson is reportedly inking a two-year minimum contract to return to the Heat, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter links).
Jackson notes that the deal includes a player option for 2024-25. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra reached out to Richardson at the start of the free agent period to recruit Richardson, per Jackson. Jackson tweets that a rival club offered the 6-foot-5 shooting guard/small forward more money, but he was swayed by the conversation with one of the league’s best coaches.
Mike Scotto of HoopsHype reports that the Timberwolves and Celtics also were hoping to sign Richardson. Scotto reveals that team president Pat Riley was also involved in the recruitment call to reacquire Richardson.
Miami, which as of now is already in luxury tax terrain in terms of its current contracts, has done well in adding a quality 3-and-D rotation wing on a team-friendly deal. The annual cap hits on a minimum deal for Richardson will be $2,891,467 in 2023-24 and $3,051,153 in 2024-25.
Miami first drafted Richardson out of Tennessee with the No. 40 pick in 2015 and flipped him to the Sixers as part of the deal that brought All-NBA wing Jimmy Butler to South Beach.
Across 65 games split between the Spurs and Pelicans in 2023-24, Richardson averaged 10.1 PPG on .431/.365/.852 shooting splits, along with 2.7 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.1 SPG.
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